Category: keyt-local-news

Caleb Nguyen

SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. – An art fundraiser is attempting to give back to restoration efforts on the Carrizo Plain from the recent Madre Fire.

Several in the community lost cameras, sound recorders and other devices to the fire’s damage and the art fundraiser will benefit new equipment, according to Carrizo Plain Conservancy president Neil Havlik.

Money raised from the various art pieces will go toward the short and long-term effects of the wildfire on the community, according to Havlik.

Havlik also mentioned that due to the large area of over 80,000 acres burnt in the grassland, biologists will decide how rainfall and weather could play a factor in recovery.

The artists of SLOPE and their colleagues have their pieces on display at the following website.

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Ivania Montes

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – Saturday, September 6th, families across Santa Barbara County will have the chance to step onto local farms and see firsthand where their food comes from.

Now in its 7th year, Santa Barbara County Farm Day offers free self-guided tours at more than 21 locations from Carpinteria to Santa Maria. Visitors can expect interactive activities, farm-fresh tastings, raffles, giveaways, and the opportunity to meet the farmers who grow the region’s produce.

“Over 21 locations across Santa Barbara County are opening their doors to the public,” said Caitlin Paulus Case, Executive Director of SEEAG, the nonprofit behind Farm Day. “It’s an opportunity to connect with the hands and lands that feed us.”

Organizers say Farm Day is about more than just exploring fields — it’s also a chance to reconnect people with the origins of their food.

“We live in a time where people care more than ever about what’s in their food,” Paulus explained, “but we’re more disconnected than ever about how our food is grown.”

For farmers like Juan Osorio, the event is personal. “It’s really important for me because it helps not only my family, but also feeds a lot of my community members with local, good, fresh produce,” he said.

First-time participants like Jason Lesh of Farm Cart Organics hope the event changes perceptions.“I want people to understand that an ugly farm is beautiful,” Lesh said. “Weeds are good, insect bites on produce are good — small, diverse, messy, ugly farms are really who we want to be shopping with.”

From learning about organic farming to sampling fresh produce, Farm Day celebrates agriculture and the people behind it.

“Farm Day is 100% free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors,” Paulus said. “We believe that agricultural, nutrition, and food education should be a right and not a privilege.”

Santa Barbara County Farm Day takes place Saturday, September 6th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Admission is free, but organizers ask participants to register online to receive the official map of all 21 locations.

For more information, you can visit their official website.

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Dave Alley

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (KEYT) – The City of Arroyo Grande has kicked off a second phase of its “Buy Local Program” in an effort to help support businesses during the ongoing Traffic Way Bridge replacement project.

The incentive program originally started in June to help draw in customers to the historic Village of Arroyo Grande area during the major construction project.

Work is currently being done to replace the Traffic Way Bridge in a road construction project that has been described as the biggest in the history of Arroyo Grande.

The program provides shoppers with a $20 gift card to a local restaurant for every $100 spent at eligible businesses while supplies last.

The Traffic Way Bridge, which is located just off of West Branch Street, is traveled by 11,000 vehicles daily, and is an integral part of the city’s infrastructure that helps link the Village area to the southwest portion of city, including Arroyo Grande High School.

One construction began, the entire bridge was be removed causing a portion of Traffic Way to close to traffic.

As a result, the city has created a handful of temporary traffic flow changes to the Village area and surrounding area.

Among the new traffic patterns has been the creation of one-way traffic going northbound on nearby Bridge Street, as well as the installation of a temporary signal at the Bridge Street intersection of West Branch Street.

A temporary traffic signal was also being installed at the intersection of the Highway 101 southbound offramp and Fair Oaks Avenue and a new traffic circle was installed on Fair Oaks Avenue outside the Arroyo Grande High School parking lot to allow for vehicles exiting the school to turn left.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Twelve35 Teen Center in Santa Barbara is showing off a fresh new look after a major remodel.

Student designer Rebecca Barreto teamed up with architect Jesiy Richards to reimagine the space.

“It feels really great to see the final project because we’ve been working on it for over a year,” said Barreto.

Their goal was to create a place where students feel safe, supported, and inspired.

“One of the things we really wanted to develop with the countertops, we had an accessible portion for ADA, which will be helpful for anyone who has mobility needs … even having some quiet, smaller spaces for students can meet one on one with their advisors has already been a great benefit and everybody loves it,” said Richards.

The SBPAL team hopes this remodeled facility will allow teens to feel a stronger sense of community.

As the only free drop-in teen center in the city, Twelve35 serves youth ages 11 to 18 with academics, recreation, and leadership programs.

“My hope is that with all of these improvements that they can hang out study learn to cook different dishes,” said Barreto.

The project was funded by the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, and a ribbon cutting is planned for later this month.

New additions include a Welcome Center, an educational kitchen, and renovated activity spaces designed to better meet the needs of teens across Santa Barbara.

The center is already open to teens after school, with the official celebration still ahead.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The morning started with heavy equipment in all directions, cutting tools and hammers  at work in downtown Santa Barbara where parklets were being demolished.

Crews were taking down the leftover parklets after business owners were told a new design was going in.

Notices went up on the remaining parklets in the one-block project area, between Cota St. and Haley St. Friday afternoon.   The deadline was 6 .am.

Some were taken out.  Some were left.

The parklets have been in place since 2020 for some businesses as a benefit seating area during the COVID crisis.

The city of Santa Barbara  is trying a new plan, just in this limited area.   It may be part of the overall Master Plan in the future.

A passerby Nancy Beaver said, “I  love it.  I do. I love it. They have to try it because the hodge podge was not attractive. I give them credit for at least trying because most of the time they just talk and then nothing happens.”

She has seen them work before in other areas. “We have been to some places in Florida that have done this and it is beautiful and the restaurants are right out here and the sidewalks go out there and there’s  trees and flowers,”said Beaver.

Pedlets are stacked up nearby to be installed on both sides of the street near the curb.  They will serve as the primary walking area for pedestrians.

The sidewalks will be used for tables, chairs and retail stands.    

In part, this will be easier on servers to bring food and drink right to tables without crossing over a pedestrian walkway.     

Howie Bao owns the Asie restaurant which had an outside parklet but he doesn’t think he will lose seating with the new plan. “I think almost same. It is a bigger space. More comfortable and easy to service people and it’s much better.” 

A retail owner of Tribal Rugs said the plan will not help him. “The rugs are something that when you display them,   people see them, on the fence. It was much better to display. Now they are stacked.  I can display some but not like before,” said Nasood Azizi. “The way that I had it before I liked it.  It was separate but it had a lot of space.”

The pedlets will be in full use on Thursday.

The city’s cost is $580,000 for this trial project.

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Alissa Orozco

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) – A police report has been filed after two bronze statutes were stolen last week at Ivy Lawns Memorial Park. According to an Instagram post by the cemetery, statues of bronze horses and a bronze little girl were taken.

A manager from Ivy Lawns told your News Channel the statues were one-of-a-kind creations sourced from private sellers.

The recent thefts have the cemetery worried about the thousands of bronze headstones in place, fearing they could be taken as well.

According to the cemetery, a police report has been filed, and while a person was arrested for damaging the statues earlier this year, they have no leads on who could have taken them.

Anyone with information or tips should contact the Ventura County Police.

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Maria is warning about a possible scam targeting residents.

The scam involves misinformation about the local water supply.

While the business organization has not been identified and the specific products being sold are not being commented on, the city wants residents to know there is nothing wrong with the local water supply.

Santa Maria residents are reporting some door-to-door solicitors selling water purification products who are claiming the city’s water supply is contaminated and unsafe.

“The City of Santa Maria is aware that there’s a potential scam involving water customers,” says Santa Maria’s city manager Mark van de Kamp. “We’ve received several concerned inquiries from residents.”

Last year, we reported that the solicitors were also falsely claiming the city would reimburse the purchase of the products being sold.

City officials wish to assure local residents that Santa Maria’s water supply is tested on a weekly basis at 25 different stations and wells.

“That’s what we understand, is they’re going door to door trying to sell some water treatment products,” says van de Kamp. “And that’s fine, it’s just when you’re then going that extra messaging and asserting that the city’s water is unsafe, that’s not true.”

All tests continue to reveal it meets federal, state, and county requirements.

Officials say it is good quality water, and it remains safe to consume and use for all purposes.

“We also put together an annual water quality report,” says van de Kamp. “So if you want to see what’s in the water and what the testing levels are, you can either stop by City Hall or Utilities Department or even check it out on our website.”

If residents wish to purchase the water purification products, that is up to them, but the claims of contamination and unsafe supply are unsubstantiated.

The city also wants it known they do not reimburse for the purchase.

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Mina Wahab

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Transportation planner Mia Lewis showed your News Channel how to use Santa Barbara County’s new, interactive housing dashboard.

It was developed by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, giving users access to housing, workforce, and demographic data.

“There’s a lot of regional difference between housing issues in our county. The county is large and diverse, so we see a variety of different issues related to different local jurisdictions and unincorporated communities,” said Mia Lewis. 

It covers nine main areas including housing affordability and availability, regional economy and workforce, and information regarding homelessness.

The data comes from sources including the U.S. Census bureau and local homelessness counts.

A prominent section of interest in the housing dashboard is on housing growth and the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process.

“That [RHNA] shows where we on the targets and meeting our targets for rent in each of our cities in the unincorporated and county wide. And how are we meeting those state goals,” said Lauren Bianchi Klemann from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.

The data shows the county has made progress, but still needs to build more affordable housing.

“The county exceeded targets for low income and above moderate income, but was unable to meet targets for very low income and moderate income units,” said Lewis. 

The dashboard is updated twice a year.

To access the housing data dashboard visit SBCAG.

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Alissa Orozco

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The 13th annual She.Is.Beautiful race drew yet another successful crowd in Santa Barbara this past weekend.

Participants of all ages and fitness levels filled East Cabrillo Boulevard to take part in the female-focused 5K and 10K with a beautiful oceanside view. The race focuses on empowerment and the celebration of life in all its beauty and messiness.

“It just speaks to like the beauty in us. Just being able to really empower each other and just like high five each other and kinda just feel like this is our day. I just think it’s gorgeous that we’re already empowering like little ones and you know it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still run and being able to motivate yourself as you’re going through it so it’s just like just very inspiring to kind of see all kinds of ages,” said runner Christina Ortiz.

For more information, visit the site’s official website.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. –

NCAA Football:

#25 Utah 63, Cal Poly 9

Junior College Football:

Pasadena City 62, SBCC 3

Bakersfield 33, Hancock 7

Ventura 45, Fullerton 42

NCAA Women’s Volleyball

Trojan Invitational:

#22 USC 3, UCSB 2

#13 Creighton 3, UCSB 2

Wooo Pig Invitational:

Tulsa 3, Cal Poly 0

Cal Poly 3, Arkansas 0

Oklahoma 3, Cal Poly 1

Sunbird Classic:

Westmont 3, UC Merced 0

Westmont 3, Stanislaus State 1

Westmont 3, Chico State 0

Junior College Women’s Volleyball:

SBCC 3, El Camino College 0

NCAA Men’s Soccer:

Cornell 1, UCSB 0

Cal Poly 3, Air Force 0

Westmont 4, Simon Fraser 4

NCAA Women’s Soccer:

Cal State LA 2, Westmont 1

NCAA Men’s Water Polo:

Inland Empire Classic:

UCSB 28, Occidental 8

UCSB 27, Fresno Pacific 7

UCSB 13, Pomona-Pitzer 8

UCSB 11, Concordia 9

Junior College Women’s Water Polo

Central Coast Invitational:

SBCC 14, Golden West 6

SBCC 18, Cuesta 6

SBCC 12, Orange Coast 5

SBCC 19, West Valley 9

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